905

I'm thinking of starting a drinking game where you've got to take a swig every time someone mentions "common sense." Anybody with me?

Posted in A&S because this is the easiest place to get drunk, though I understand if it slides down to Foo.

FenderTL5

That would be more useful.

I have an acquaintance who says often, "A man can be very intelligent but people are stupid."
If his statement is true, then 'common sense' is ignorant.

dynodonn 

What I have learned as well as heard, is that "Common Sense" is usually not common or sensible, since it varies, slightly or extremely, from person to person, or societies as a whole. My version of common sense varied greatly from that of one of my past employers.

texaspandj

I've said this privately for years to my kids,describing what common sense means to me and how some of the smartest people I've ever associated with didn't have it.

Someone might see something on the ground, and say that looks like poop on the ground, then touch it and say that feels like poop, smells like poop, dang it it's poop!
I see possible poop on the ground I walk around it.

dynodonn 

That reminded me of one of my favorite Cheech and Chong skits.................now let's go eat.

howsteepisit

Seems like its mostly a way to insult somebody who disagrees with one, when no facts are available or are contrary to ones opinion

howsteepisit

Or it could suggest that you are apt to jump to conclusions and ridicule those who take time to investigate before forming an opinion. I have no way of knowing, just suggesting an alternative interpretation.

fietsbob

Actually rare rather than common.. the 'smart' phones are making people dumb but amused in shallow things.

JoeyBike

I believe that common sense is the ability to figure things out ahead of time so that bad things don't have to happen to you every time, or that good things are put into a better position to happen for you.

Intelligence is the ability to learn from books and apply that learning to actual circumstances.

For instance: I have a physician friend who performs complicated surgery on shoulders. Even pioneered some procedures, lectures in Universities. He can't fix a flat tire on a bicycle. He puts the bike in his car and takes it to his local LBS. Could he LEARN how to do it? I bet so. But knowing him a little bit I realized that pretty much across the board - if he didn't learn it in school, or continuing ed, he won't be able to figure it out on his own.

Intelligent people may or may not possess common sense do some degree. I believe it is harder to have common sense if you are not basically a smart person in the first place.

texaspandj

I'm kinda hesitant to post this actual story in case one of my favorite relatives reads it. But....
When he was a little kid he went crying to his mother that a bee had stung him. She asked where? He said his hand, and opened it to show her and the bee flew out. Same kid as a sophomore, was tested in math and placed top 10 percent in the Nation. Not the city, not the state, The Nation.

Jaywalk3r

In set theory, the only subset common to all sets is the empty set, i.e., the set with no elements. Similarly, with people, the only sense that is common to everybody is no sense. Saying somebody is "using common sense" is a diplomatic way of saying they're using no sense at all.

Rollfast

Is anyone in rehab or a country band yet?

Joe Minton

Bertrand Russell wrote a book titled "Uncommon Sense".
He observed, in his introduction, that since 'common sense' was so very uncommon and that he intended to write some sensible things then he should name his book accordingly.

Joe

Jaywalk3r

You do realize that, for all practical purposes, there's no difference among being in the top ten percent in a city, state, or nation, right?

wphamilton

As I lernt from my vocational/ag teacher in a small town in Texas there's "book smarts" and then there's "common sense" and one has nothing to do with the other, but of the two "common sense" was to be more highly prized. I figured that the guy was lacking in both. Common sense is just intelligence, practically applied.

B. Carfree

I've always considered common sense to be an expression of one's accumulated biases to date.

For example, if you live in a locale where females aren't taught math, science and computer programming, you might see it as common sense that females aren't very good at these pursuits (as a former president of Harvard did about a decade ago in spite of the fact that the most-cited physicist in the nation was a woman at his institution). Meanwhile, the people of Norway and other locales where children are given equal educational opportunities regardless of their gender would have a different "common sense" view of women's potential in these fields.

canklecat

Texas is the unofficial national capitol of common sense being anything but, which our choices in politicians routinely demonstrate (most recently, Louie Gohmert and his space ark fantasy).

"It's common sense" is what Texans say when they mean reification fallacy and bias confirmation: "I want it to be true. People who agree with me want it to be true/false. Anyone who disagrees with me gets unfriended on Fauxbook. Therefore it is true/false."

"Books smarts" is what Texans say to dismiss anything in print that can't be found in church. Never mind that the most popular of those books found in church lists some specific duties, responsibilities and personal liabilities for actions and omissions that cause personal injury to others.

I-Like-To-Bike

Just like some cry "troll" every time a post or poster is viewed contrary to the "common sense" opinion or group thinking.
See recent posts in the Helmet Thread for classic examples of someone who insults everyone who disagrees with his common sense opinions.

howsteepisit

I seem to have noticed that one in the Helmet thread. So is being a troll related to common sense or a lack of such?

I-Like-To-Bike

It apparently means not sharing the same version of "common sense" as the posters who are in charge of enforcing group think by means of waving the troll flag.

berner

I have to agree. Technology makes people stupid. Just the other day I overheard a man at the supermarket on his cell phone calling home, "Honey. what kind of bread was that." It is amazing to think that in the past world wide business was conducted by post and sailing ships which means people had to think things through in advance and make contingency plans in case the ship sank which happened sometimes.

Rollfast

if such a thing existed, you wouldn't be reading this.

350htrr

Common sense is something personal... I decide not to do something because common sense tells me not to do it because I will/probably will get hurt, but, someone else does it and gets hurt... Well I have common sense and that other person doesn't...

B. Carfree

Dumb people have always existed. Modern technology, rather than making more such people, has allowed those who are smart to be truly brilliant. I remember working alongside AIDS researchers back in the early 1980s as that scourge began taking its toll. We would have given our right arms, and then some, for the tools available today. Things that took us years to do are now done in days, as shown in this NY Times article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/sc...s-of-zika.html

Miele Man

If Common Sense is so common then why do so few use it?

Also, Common sense is dead.

"London Times Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

'Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses & criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth & Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; & his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame & I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.'"

Cheers